


Cupcakes and Daffodils

by 1dead



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Baker Harry Styles, Florist Louis Tomlinson, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23197063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1dead/pseuds/1dead
Summary: Harry Styles is a baker in London who just wants to woo the pretty boy who works at the flower shop across the street. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize that Louis can't eat gluten.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 74





	Cupcakes and Daffodils

Harry always found baking calming. Even when it’s five in the morning and he would rather be curled up in his comfy bed than making another dozen cupcakes, it still puts him in a calmer state of mind. Today was vastly different though. Harry had woken up extra early in order to get a head start on his baking for the day all so he would have extra time in order to bake the perfect vanilla cupcake that had to be decorated to perfection as well. He was currently on his 13th cupcake. He groaned as he set down his piping bag after messing up yet another cupcake because his petals kept coming out wrong. He heard the small bell over the front door jingle and the kitchen door open but he couldn’t be bothered to look up at who came in. After all it was most likely Liam, and Harry’s already given up on seeming cool to Liam.

“Jesus Harry, what’s with all the cupcakes?” 

“I have to make the perfect cupcake Liam” Harry picked up another vanilla cupcake and his piping bag as he attempted his 14th cupcake. Liam picked up Harry’s 5th attempt and inspected it closely.

“Harry all these cupcakes look great. What are you freaking out over?” Liam set the cupcake down and walked over to Harry as he started to delicately pipe flowers. 

“You don’t understand Liam. If this cupcake isn’t perfect then Louis might not like it and then I’ll never be able to ask him out if he doesn’t think I can even make a cupcake right,” Liam let out a loud laugh at that which Harry did not appreciate. His pain wasn’t funny.

“Of course all this is about your crush on flower shop kid” Liam picked up Harry’s now discarded piping bag and squeezed out a dollop of icing onto his finger before sticking it into his mouth.   
“One, don’t do that. The icing is for our actual products. Two, he has a name and you should use it.” Harry snatched back his piping bag and continued working on his cupcake.

“Ah yes. A name you found out from stalking him -”

“It wasn’t stalking.” Harry just made Niall go to the flower shop and buy something while Louis was working so he could learn his actual name. If anything it was Liam's fault since he was the one who said Harry couldn’t keep referring to him as ‘the flower shop boy’. He also got some lovely daffodils to spruce up his and Niall’s apartment so really it was an amazing success. 

“Of course it wasn’t. So can you tell me why after a year and a half of staring and pining, you’re finally making a move on Louis. And why you’re doing it through cupcakes.” Liam, being a diligent worker, had started placing out the sweets that Harry had forgotten about in his quest to make the perfect cupcake for the perfect boy.

“Well, Liam, I saw that guy he works with bring him a cupcake yesterday and Louis was so happy that he even gave the guy a kiss on the cheek. This makes me think that Louis has a sweet-tooth that I can use against him. I am going to win him over by giving him a treat and a note everyday until I feel confident enough to ask him out.” Harry honestly felt very proud of himself for coming up with the idea. It was cute and would be a great story to tell when people asked how they started dating. It also gave him a chance to show off his baking skills to Louis.

“Right. So when are you going to leave the cupcake for Louis? You work all day” Liam began setting up the counter for customers, which Harry also should have done but Louis was more important. 

“He takes his lunch break at 1, and is normally gone for a half hour so I’m going to leave it on the counter 10 minutes before he comes back so it’ll be fresh. I trust you can run the store for 5 minutes?” Harry, finally satisfied with his cupcake (and it only took him 17 cupcakes) set it down in the corner of the counter so it wouldn’t get ruined throughout the day. Liam opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the bell at the front of the door ringing, signaling their first customer of the day.

~//~

Louis was tired. He hadn’t paid attention to the time and ended up reading until 3 in the morning. On the bright side it had been a slow day so far. In fact it had been so slow that Zayn let him take a quick nap in the break room earlier. Perks of working with your best friend. But right now all he wanted to do was get through the rest of the day. He finished up his lunch, a microwaved Udi’s mac and cheese, and walked back to the counter. What he did not expect to see was a cupcake sitting on the pink granite top. It was vanilla, with white icing and small multi colored flowers piped all around the border. It looked like it would take a lot of time with how small the flowers were. 

“Hey Zayn! Did you buy me another cupcake?” Louis picked up the cupcake and inspected it closer. It smelled really good.

“No. Why would I get you a cupcake? You did remember your lunch today right?” Zayn turned around from where he was carefully wrapping a bouquet of a dozen roses.

“I didn’t forget my lunch. That bitch Eleanor ate it. But someone left a cupcake on the counter. Did you see who it was?”

“Nah mate. I’ve been working on that bouquet for the last 15 minutes. I heard the door open, and I asked them to wait a minute so I could help them but they left immediately,” Zayn walked closer to the counter and picked up a piece of pink paper that Louis hadn't noticed before, “It’s definitely for you though. They left a note.” Louis grabbed the note from Zayn’s hand and began reading

Hi,   
You probably don’t know who I am but I felt like you deserved something as sweet as yourself -H

Louis sighed. It’s a cute note but if Louis didn’t know this person that meant they probably didn't know he was gluten free. Which meant this cupcake, as good looking as it was, would fuck him up. He’d accidentally eaten a non gluten free cupcake after getting diagnosed once. He didn’t leave the bathroom for the rest of the day. He put the note in his apron’s pocket but tossed the cupcake in the trash can. 

~//~

Harry was frustrated to say the least. Over the past five days he had left five different treats and notes for Louis. And every single treat got thrown out. At first he thought nothing of it, ‘Maybe Louis doesn’t like vanilla’, ‘He probably just doesn’t like cannolis, after Liam hates cannolis’, ‘He’s probably full from lunch, I wouldn’t want an eclair after lunch either’. But it was starting to get frustrating. Unfortunately he’s the only one who thinks this is an issue, Niall had much less sympathy.

“Haz, he probably thinks they're poisoned. If I started getting a bunch of treats at work with anonymous notes I’d be scared shitless. There's no way I’d eat them.” Niall was sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer and a comfy hoodie on, fully ready to watch the soccer game, but instead Harry was pacing in front of him ranting about the Louis situation. Harry was still in his work clothes and had flour on his cheek. Normally he would hate feeling so gross but it was more important that he figured out why Louis was denying his gifts.

“Niall I have seen you pick spaghetti off the floor and eat it. You would not turn down a cupcake. Also the notes are all sweet and nice so he has no reason to be afraid.”

“We agreed to never mention the spaghetti. Now move. I wanna watch the game. You can have your crisis afterwards.”

~//~

Harry was in heaven. Harry had definitely gone the right route giving Louis food since he obviously loves sweets because here he was, standing in Harry’s bakery looking at the menu. It had been a slow day and Cara was working in the kitchen, so Harry had decided to help out (read: entertain himself) and work the cash register. It was probably the best decision he’d ever made since now he would get to talk to Louis and find out what snacks he actually likes so Harry could make those instead. 

“Do you think I could get a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing?”

“A vanilla cupcake?” Vanilla. Harry made vanilla. Louis threw it out. What the hell was he supposed to do now. He can’t find the perfect thing to bake if he already made it and Louis hated it. Niall was right. Louis is probably scared by the gifts.

“Yeah I know. It’s boring as hell but my friend got me a cupcake when I forgot my lunch and now I’m returning the favor since he forgot his lunch.” So Louis didn’t like vanilla. That was obviously the problem and Harry takes back everything he said. Niall was obviously wrong.

“Oh, ok. Is that all you need today?”

“Yep. Just the cupcake.”

“All right that’ll be $2.50.” Louis pulled out his wallet and started to look for the bills he needed but Harry didn’t want this to be over all ready, “Do you wanna hear a joke?” He heard a groan come from Liam but Harry chose to ignore him.

“Sure man.” Louis placed the money in Harry’s hand and looked up at him. Fuck. His eyes were so blue. How had Harry not realized before. 

“How do you impress a baker?” Another groan from Liam

“I don’t know? How?”

“You buy him flours” Louis giggled. Harry made Louis giggle with some dumb joke his mom had told him when he graduated culinary school. 

“I’ll have to keep that in mind in case I ever want to impress you… “ Louis trailed off and signaled Harry to say his name.

“Harry.”

“Harry. Well Harry, I’m Louis,” I know, Harry thought, “And I actually work at the flower shop across the street, so maybe I’ll see you around sometime.” Louis grabbed the box with the cupcake and dumped the change Harry had handed him into the tip jar. With one more smile at Harry, he turned around and left. 

~//~

Louis was starting to feel guilty. It had been another 3 weeks of receiving baked goods from some anonymous person. And they were clearly putting a lot of effort into them. He received chocolate eclairs, strawberry cookies, peach scones, every flavor and food imaginable. But all of them had gluten. So all of them got thrown out. The notes were sweet though. Louis had kept every single one of them in a small box under his bed. In those three weeks he had also realized how hot the baker across the street was. Louis never really cared about the bakery but then Zayn forgot his lunch and claimed Louis owed him. He was kind of glad Zayn had insisted Louis buy him a cupcake because he got to meet Harry. Harry, who wrote bad baking puns on the chalkboard sign outside everyday, and slips cookies to little kids who seem upset and has really good hair, and strong arms, and a sharp jawline. Louis had never noticed Harry before but now that he had, he couldn’t stop noticing him. After daydreaming about Harry again, Louis’ lunch had gone cold and wasn’t worth finishing so he threw it out and walked out of the break room. Right as he reached the counter, Harry walked in holding a cake pop shaped as a heart and a small piece of pink paper with a note written on it. Then Harry made eye contact with Louis.

“Louis! I thought you were on your lunch break!” Harry dropped the cake pop out of suprise but grabbed it before it could hit the floor.

“I was but I finished early. So you’ve been leaving me all those snacks and notes then?” Louis leaned over the counter and stared at Harry. If he was being honest this was the best possible outcome he could have imagined but he wanted to tease Harry a little bit.

“I know this seems weird and it honestly is but you were just so pretty and I’m so awkward around guys I like. I’ve had a mini crush on you for over a year now and I just didn’t know what to do. I mean it wasn’t a mini crush if I’m being honest. It’s a huge crush. I had my roommate come in here and buy flowers just to learn your name. He said we didn’t need to actually buy anything but I like supporting local businesses. I don’t even know if you’re gay, I just assumed because you always have a rainbow pin on your jacket or apron. I saw Zayn-”

“Harry,” Louis cut Harry off in the middle of his speech. He definitely wasn’t lying about being awkward, “The sweets were a very cute idea. But I can’t eat gluten.” Louis walked over to Harry and took the cake pop out of his hands. He threw it in the trash and grabbed Harry’s hands.

“You can’t eat gluten?” Harry looked confused. 

“Nope. 100% gluten intolerant. But I find you very cute too if that makes you feel better.’

“Wait you think I’m cute?” 

“Very. I also think you’re very funny and sweet and I would like to go out on a date with you if you’re up for that.” Louis suddenly felt very nervous. He was plenty confident chatting up guys at the bar but Harry was different.

“Yes! I mean- yeah, a date. Sounds good. We should exchange numbers right?” Harry let go of Louis’ hands so he could grab his phone. He showed Louis his number, and Louis copied it into his phone and texted Harry so he could have Louis’ number as well.

“I’ll text you later so we can set up a date but my lunch break is officially over so I better get back to work.” Louis walked over to the counter and waved goodbye to Harry as he crossed the street back to the bakery.

~//~

A few weeks later while walking over to visit his boyfriend, Louis noticed there was something else written on the chalkboard in place of it’s usual pun.

Now serving gluten free options!

**Author's Note:**

> Idk man. It's my first fanfic.


End file.
